Typical aquatic vegetation harvesters are not particularly well suited for clearing tightly matted aquatic vegetation, or aquatic vegetation having thick roots or stems. One type of aquatic vegetation cutter designed for clearing dense aquatic vegetation is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,566. The system disclosed in the '566 patent has two vertical rotary cutting blades, each attached to a drive shaft extending from a bow of a barge. The rotary cutting blades cut vegetation as the barge moves forward, and also cuts root systems while tearing through the subsoil.
In areas of the world where climates are conducive to dense vegetation growth, high-powered aquatic vegetation cutters are needed to control overgrown aquatic vegetation in waterways. The drive shafts for the cutter blades encounter tremendous loads in the prior art aquatic vegetation cutter. The drive shafts therefore tend to break or bend during long term operation. Since the drive shafts typically rotate at a relatively high revolution rate (e.g. 200-300 rpm), a bent drive shaft can quickly destroy motors or any bearings that may support the drive shaft. The likelihood of bending or breaking the drive shaft in the prior art system increases greatly when the power of the aquatic vegetation cutter is increased to cut aquatic vegetation that is more difficult to cut.